REOPENS FGN 20

Modi in his statement last year with Merkel had also said that both the countries looked forward to a concrete outcome at the 2015 Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris that strengthens the commitment and the ability of the world, especially of poor and vulnerable countries, to transition to a m

Modi in his statement last year with Merkel had also said that both the countries looked forward to a concrete outcome at the 2015 Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris that strengthens the commitment and the ability of the world, especially of poor and vulnerable countries, to transition to a more sustainable growth path.

"India has already started the process of ratification (of the agreement).

"Recently when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Washington and had met President Obama, they emphasised that the process (of ratification) has to be done at the earliest and we (India) have already started in that direction," Javadekar said.

He said that India has upscaled its solar energy target by five times and plans an expansion of 100 GW of solar energy.

"By 2050 you will be meeting 80 per cent of energy needs through renewables. Thats most laudable. Our earlier target was only 20 GW of solar energy.

"When Modi came (to power), we upscaled it by five times and made it 100 GW. Other renewables like wind energy, we have opened it for offshore as well," Javadekar added.

In reply to a question on what has changed for India which was earlier reluctant to join agreements, Javadekar said that it is because the country has a Prime Minister who leads from the front, takes challenges head on and has the will to fight climate change. PTI TDS KUN

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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